One Of Many Battles

Adilen signed as he looked down at the messenger. How did this happen? An enemy army appeared within the city? There shouldn't have been a feasible way to breach the city like that, the harbor was protected, so was here at the other end of the pass, finally the sewers were guarded and closed shut. 'Unless.. No.. You'd have to be magically adept for that, there are no wizards of my knowledge anywhere near this city. Nor did we make enemies with one.'

Unless.. No, the Adventurer guild is on the city's side and everyone who is a wizard in their ranks wouldn't have such a rare item. Maybe the strongest mage did? Even still they were not geared for those intentions. If its not the mages then who? A rogue? No.. Cultist is a possibility too but they had long taken care of that issue. Maybe it was an external variable. 

Perhaps they were already hidden in the city? Ready to strike when they weren't looking and their manpower was low? That's seemed far more feasible than any mystical scroll that could warp you to a very specific location. One he would rather believe instead. You cant warp armies, but you can hide one.

He can't deal with them until he deals with the city walls defenses who were under siege by a rather large bandit army. However, that didnt mean the troops in the walls can't, he grabbed his warhorn, there were two actually.

One was for the front; it was more thunderous, though it had limited charges, granted it charges, via ambient mana. It was specifically used for attacking, intimidation and even other specific situations only privy to officers. The other is normal and strictly trained into the troops to be recognized as an enemy in the walls. A defense in other words, In which those patrolling, sleeping or even in the middle of something must respond to the enemy in kind, once troops locate them.. 

Which in this case won't be hard, they will converge and either slay the enemy or stall them long enough for reinforcements to arrive. He only hoped in this case the size of the army wouldn't cause issues to the militia and patrols to a fatal point. Given the noble houses will also have to respond, so it's comforting to some degree.

He stared out one of the small slits in the stone, distantly bellows of black smoke rose from the direction of the West Market. He signed again. There goes god only knew how much goods, if the markets were crippled. They would experience short term damage to their current stability, which doesn't sound bad until you consider.. Winter. That said…

If he wasn't careful the outer enemies could breach the walls and he knew what bandits would do by themselves, the more there are the worse the consequences could be. If they thought any further than raiding, they could potentially take the city hostage. Knowing his fellow man, bandits running a town for the entirety of winter would spawn more bandits either from the populace or outside Garlens walls.

Therefore to stop that from happening, he had to use what he had now to kill their numbers. Or face the consequences of these damned outlaws!

RUMBLE*

Wood and stone groaned as a deep thunderous rumble shook the stones under his feet. He narrowed his brows, what was that? 

BOOM!

A deep crash followed by a quarter of the room collapsing, startled him. Debris of stone crumbled, filling in part of the room. Adilen held up his hand to block the dust and debris. Narrowing his eyes at the sound before he came to a grim realization. The fuckers have trebuchets! It seems they plan to shell the walls into oblivion and all the troops atop it! He thought for a moment. Looking towards the oak door his teeth grinding together. The issue with siege weapons concerning his side is he cant reach them with archers. They would be too far away, even if he tried to send raids against the enemy he wouldn't want to kill more than he had. Likely they were using them as a sort of cover? I mean they are bandits, they might not be all that smart.. But tactics will still play a part no matter how barbaric a battle gets.

He needed to alleviate his forces, before they were crushed! He paced as the stones trembled underfoot from boulders blasting the walls apart slowly. If he dealt with the enemies in the walls first he could pull all those ones in combat to the walls, giving them a greater chance of success. He hadn't done this before due to the nature of a city and its crime rate. But it seems he will have to make some sacrifices. As a commander of the defense troops he had two jobs, lead the defense, and secure the future of the city as a whole. That includes military, economic and finally laws. Now instead he had focus on killing the enemy faster. 

"Send 100 guardsmen to gather militia and deal with this threat. Tell Roger he's in charge, captain's orders!"

That way he could build an army from those willing to fight along with removing said enemy, he hadn't thought of their size, but from the report it wasnt huge, but still mildly sizable to be worried about. However with the nobles, knights and varying forces that were in part loyal to the city and its survival he shouldn't worry too much.

Although Adilen didn't know the sort of enemy within the town, he assumed it was bandits and of course human. This kingdom didn't really have other populations, it was a kingdom for sure, but it was also nearly unheard of due to its population, economy and other factors. Likely its land mass. As the kingdom wasn't really that big in terms of land. More so a narrow kingdom, but still enough land to work with.

Without listening to the messenger's last words, he threw the oak door open staring into the chaos, before stepping into it himself. Hoping secretly a boulder wouldn't take his head off in the first few seconds.

Messenger watching the door as if his boss just walked into a captivating painting. The mass of metal, muscles and anger wrapped in a gift present of utter despair and unwavering passion. It was beautifully terrifying, especially if one knew his history and the wars he has participated in. He shivered before moving on to his task at hand.

War was never an easy thing and he knew fighting wasn't a pleasant experience either, he may be a messenger in the roles, but he is also a guardsman himself. Knowing the fight against bandits wasn't as glorious as it sounds. Victory was more so a relief after the day was done. As you have kept the barbarians out just that much longer.

### 

Outside the walls of Garlen, an army of loose bandits backed by siege weapons unleashing hails of stone stood at the ready, their weapons bristled and banished for battle!

Lark himself smirked at the sight of debris raining down the walls, as boulders slam into the top and crumbled upon impact. Turning away he laughed loudly as behind him stood his army. A 1500 bandits willing to kill, loot and well have some good jolly fun. It was hard to gather this many, there were flaws, but the bodies counted, so it's a victory to any man.

It took quite a while to recruit, merge and arm a force big enough to clash with a city's army. Yet he also found it may not be enough for bigger cities, towns and sometimes well built villages. Yet this city was low on manpower, their lord was out with a fleet and almost the entire army. Leaving behind a 'small force' to defend the city. This would be their undoing, he couldn't wait to get started! Lark, already licking his lips at the idea of steak and wine, ale for all, treasures to last a lifetime! 

Even if anyone tried to retake the city, he could just flee into the wilds and mountains. All in all it's a win win either way.

Two captain's both Keith and Pio, chuckling just the same, both respectively a part of this army and the original leaders of two bandit armies, unified under this one man. A king amongst bandits. Built for it too, greed, warlording asshole? Yea that's a bandit boss right there.. No, a super boss.

Lark ordered for the trebuchets to continue their assault of the walls till their ammunition ran dry! No bandit here was bored from the captivating destruction, it boiled their blood! Just as much as looting did! Oh they couldn't wait! The attacks continued for hours on end, only when the last boulder was fired that Lark finally stood up from his makeshift throne.

 "Look at them! Shivering beyond their walls at our army! At us! These cowards do not know our struggle, but they will! Their treasures will be ours! Their food, ours and their lives!"

His army responded with roars of blood lust and passion for battle, were they really bandits? Or Vikings reborn? A bit of both.

Lark had them stake out as they scrounged up at least another round of trebuchet tossing. This final toss would be accompanied by their charge. 

### 

After hours and a distant warhorn he was greeted by a pain in him.

Upon feeling his bones sting from losses Duth delved into their minds. Finding the battles were certainly not from any reinforcements, but militia and what seems like a sizable detachment from the army of this city.. Did they underestimate us? Or rather overestimated us? That is more likely, but why does he feel like a level 1 boss who is crying after several adventurers came packing, having done all the side quests and now wants to suck the marrow from his bones..

He didnt know and didnt care. All he knew were more bodies. "You said you can make death knights yourself?" 

The death knights guarding him nodded. "Weeess, have.. A way to.. Change them.. Into.. Partial undead and knight."

Duth nodded "That's enough, you are only permitted to fight knights. I want as many in my ranks as possible."

Both nodded before they seemingly faded away. He hated when they did that. Unlike those who do so to go into an invisible mode. These knights of his do more than that, but fade away at superluminal speeds. Too fast for him and too fast for his magical senses. A bafflement really. 

That said, the battles seemed like a decisive defeat on his end, a troop of militia under some man moved in unison cracking down on his undead, even holding back the Death knight. Although, it wasn't so cut and clean. When it could, the death knight stepped forwards and swiped its wicked blade across 3 soldiers no matter if they had shields or swords blocking them. They shattered under the Death knights strength and wickedly deadly attacks. their bodies cut in half, spilling guts, gore, mush and letting loose great splashes of blood that painted the cobbled streets. Undead only got 1 or 2 shots in. Enough to kill or severely injure when the Death knight did just an action. However their numbers were decreasing faster than the humans. 

It seemed like this human and his troop. Or a portion were using halberts. A deadly weapon against armored forces, especially knights. 

How bothersome…  His Death Knight was taking damage, give this army less than an hour and enough coordination, they could have dismantled the knight in due time. Even if it's considered an army crusher, those are often rumors and not actual truths.

Having the Death knight retreat back to him and his undead to kill who they could. He refocused on his current position. 2 Death knights guarding him like 9 foot statues of pure killing intent and iron wills. This made him smile, metaphorically of course. 

They in unison retracted their blades from the ground as he 'asked' them to, he respected his knights and in return they respected him, he could see the blue soul embers burn brighter in their chest. Albeit only visible to him. They were his guardians, but he also wanted to protect them. It wasn't humanity, but rather a normal emotion, animals and even some insects have the same emotion. Souls of the dead are no different. To protect each other, is to live. One may think this is a part of humanity, one might believe that shedding that emotion would be beneficial for removing humanity, but why? Who said Duth and his Knights were protecting people? Animals or even insects? They weren't. They had no morality towards humans and that would stay that way. Unless he happened to be generous one day, it's not for others to judge and doubt his actions.

What remained of his troops, including 5 Death Knights he began to move on, his next step of his plan, would be to gain more troops. It is better having free legions from the city's graveyard than winning and losing battles. 

Ding*

A quest notification popped up.

[[Quest- Gather an army and take Garlen]]

Rewards: A free skill, 5 levels to all skills and 50 stat points.

Ooh.. A quest, one I will gladly accept